Antares Metals (ASX:AM5) has confirmed depth potential at its Conglomerate Creek Target 2 prospect following a successful maiden reverse circulation (RC) drilling program within the Mount Isa North copper project in northwest Queensland. The Mount Isa region is one of Australia's most prolific base metals provinces, hosting decades of copper production from operations including the long-running Mount Isa Mines complex, and continues to attract exploration investment amid growing global copper demand driven by electrification and the energy transition.

The 780-metre program comprised six holes, with mineralisation encountered in every hole. It marked the first sub-surface exploration across a broad, previously untested intrusive complex. Drilling was designed to test beneath high-grade copper-gold-silver mineralisation that Antares mapped and sampled at surface in 2025.

Highlight hole ACD002 confirmed that the surface system continues at depth, intersecting 4.0 metres at 8,140 parts per million (ppm) copper — approximately 0.81% copper — from 84 metres.

Managing Director Terry Topping said the results indicate that the Conglomerate Creek system can host significant copper mineralisation, providing a key data point for evaluating the broader target inventory at the Mount Isa North project. With six of seven identified anomalies still untested, the discovery runway remains substantially intact.

"This is the first time a drill bit has ever tested the Conglomerate Creek intrusive system and it has confirmed what we mapped at surface," Mr Topping said.

"We have not yet matched the tenor we see at surface, but for a first-pass program across a 2.0km by 2.5km target, intersecting the vein system at depth is exactly the result we needed to keep going. We have now tested one of seven anomalies."

"Detailed electrical geophysics will sharpen our targeting across the rest of the system, and Target 5, where our rock chips ran to 22% copper, is the one we are most keen to get a rig onto. Antares is applying modern exploration to ground that previous operators barely touched, in one of the best copper addresses in the world."

Target 5, located immediately north of the drilled area, carries a stronger geochemical response than Target 2 and hosts rock chip sampling by Antares grading up to 22.0% copper.

Detailed surface electrical geophysics is being planned across the prospect to identify more strongly mineralised sections within the large target area and to prioritise drill targets ahead of a follow-up RC program.

Prior to market open, AM5 shares were steady at 0.8 cents with a market capitalisation of $6.848 million.

Source: The Market Online Australia